Chapter Fifteen: Kashka from Baghdad


The house and betting room is a mess. Chairs, desks and papers are strewn everywhere and Scudboat had been beaten badly. He lets out a groan as Kate carefully cleans his injuries. "The good news is that you won't need stitches. However, you will need to ice your face; it'll keep the swelling down."

He shrugs. "Small problem. The Lee bastards." He hastily corrects himself. "Sorry miss."

She merely smiles. "Thank you."

"How'd a nice lady like you get mixed up with these Shelby boys, eh?" he asks with a smile.

Kate risks as glance towards Thomas, he's picking something up from the table. "Believe me, I'm still wondering that myself." Kate freezes as she watches Thomas. She knows that body language anywhere, something is wrong and everyone's in danger. "What is it Thomas?" she asks, her tone causing everyone to look to her before looking at him.

"They left these." Thomas said, holding up a pair of wire cutters.

Those words cause the blood to drain out of her face. John and Arthur figure it out instantly and they freeze. "Wire cutters?" Polly asks with a frown. "Why would they leave wire cutters?"

"Nobody move." Arthur orders, causing everyone to still.

"I think our friends are playing the game." Thomas says quietly.

"What game?" Polly asks as she moves towards another room.

"Pol," Thomas orders. "don't touch anything."

"Grenade?" Kate asks softly, not daring to breathe heavily. "Is that what you're thinking?"

He nods. "Erasmus Lee was in France. When we gave up ground to the Germans, we'd leave behind booby traps set up with wires. Then we'd leave wire cutters, its part of the joke."

"Somewhere in here," John says hoarsely. "there's a hand grenade."

"Holy Jesus." Polly breathes.

"Attached to a wire." Thomas states. "Don't move any chairs or open any doors."

"I don't suppose, there's a flashlight in here?" she inquires. "The light would reflect off the wires."

"I got one." John says.

"Go easy John boy." Arthur says as John moves towards the door.

There's a few more tense moment before Thomas says. "Boys no, there's nothing here." Kate frowns and as she studies Thomas's body language. He's leaning on a chair and even though she can't see his face, she can sense his thoughts spinning around. "If it was in here it'd have blown by now." Everyone exhales nervously. "It was my name on the bullet Erasmus sent. He set up a trap alright, but he set it up just for me."

"Thomas?" he turns towards her. "Your car, maybe?"

Thomas's blue eyes widen and he bolts for the door. Kate picks up her long blue skirts and runs after him, bumping into Abigail. She pauses to grab it. "Thank you!"

"You're welcome!" Abigail stammers as she watches Kate run after Thomas.

"Kate!" he shouts without looking over his shoulder. "Back to the house!"

"Not until the grenade is discharged and I know no one is in need of medical assistance!" she shouts back.

"It's not safe!"

"Well," she inhales as she nearly trips on her skirt. "it's too bad we're both used to running towards danger!"

The garage comes in sight and Thomas runs around the corner and freezes, causing her to nearly plow into him. "Finn?" Kate peers around his shoulder and she almost stops breathing as she sees Finn inside Thomas's car. Thomas approaches the car slowly. "Finn, stay exactly where you are."

"I was pretending I was you." he says with a smile.

"Which door did you open to come in Finn?" Thomas asks.

"I didn't I climbed in." the innocence in the child's voice seems to mocking them in this tension filled scenario.

Kate glances at him and moves to approach the other side, but Thomas grabs her wrist. "Don't move Kate." She swallows and nods. "I want you to climb out exactly the same way you climbed in." for some reason, Finn decides to do the exact opposite of what Thomas asks

No, no Finn!" Thomas shouts.

Kate hears the clatter and ducks to look for the grenade. It lands at Thomas's feet! Kate gasps as he grabs it and shouts. "GRENADE!"

Panic erupts in the street as Thomas throws the grenade. Kate covers her ears as it explodes, sending rock everywhere! Her heart pounds in her chest as she grabs her bag and hurries out into the street. "Is everyone alright?" Kate calls. "Does anyone need medical assistance?"

"Here!" one man shouts, clutching his eye. Kate hurries towards him. "Something in my eye!"

Kate removes his hand and winces at the sight of the gravel imbedded in his face. "Ok," she leads him back towards the garage, near the water pump for the horse. Kate tears a bit of her skirts as she pumps water on it. She then opens his eye and uses the cloth to tease out the three gravel pieces in the corner of his eye. "close your eye and let me know if I got it out."

The man does as she asks and he grins. "Thank you. You got it."

She smiles. "Hold on and let me help you with your face."

"Thomas is bleeding." Finn says, causing her to spin around as Thomas walks by holding his young brother.

"Wait, a minute. Thomas, let me see." She reaches up and wipes the blood on his cheek. He jerks his head away. "You're bleeding."

"I'm fine."

"Thomas, will you just-

He just walks away from her, causing her to exhale deeply. She's almost tempted to go after him, but decides against it. Let him go. She tells herself mentally. You've no claim on him.

"Sorry about that miss, if it was any man other than Shelby," he says gently. "I'd have said something."

"It's alright." she exhales and reaches into her kit to pull out some tweezers to carefully extract the larger rocks. The smaller ones simply brush off. "There you go, as good as new."

"How much do I owe you?"

"Nothing. This one's on me."

"Thank you!"

She smiles at him as she picks up her bag and for a moment she's tempted to go back to the Shelby's house. After a few moments of debating she decides to head back towards the restaurant. Remember? You're distancing yourself from the Shelby family. She nods. It's probably just a small cut anyway. But he still didn't need to push her away like that. What if there's glass or something in there from the grenade explosion?

"I need a new project." Kate mutters. "I wonder if there are anymore buildings for sale and if so, what can I do with them?"


Idcam: Which is why these two are getting along well. Poor Thomas, Kate's pushing Grace at him and Polly's pushing Kate at him!